This woodworking thing is taking a strange and frightening turn. I am now collecting hand planes. I have that terrifying thought of being like those orchid collectors who drained their life savings and remortgaged their homes to feed their habit. At first, I convinced myself to buy just a few cheapies necessary to get the job done, but now I find myself purchasing the sought after exotic ones. My most recent fix is a Stanley 45.

It has 1/4” blade and it operates well. It’s a bit rusty in several areas and the tote is cracked and loose. I’ve restored a cheapo Craftsman plane and even carved a tote for it and it wasn’t particularly difficult. I want to repair the tote by carving one out of wood. I have some short boards of pear, walnut, wenge and Sapelle woods. I also have some holly branches drying out, which might come in handy for inlay.

I have two questions. First, how do you remove the tote. I have been unable to find anyone who has documented how to remove it. Second, As you can see, the plane has lots of rust along with some loss of the nickel finish. How do I go about removing the rust and restoring the nickel? Removing the rust may also remove the nickel, which I don’t mind provided there is a way to put it back on.

Thanks for all the help.

BTW, my wife saw the 45 and I was expecting to spend a night at the dog house instead she said “Wow! It’s so pretty. Look at those gorgeous little flowers.” She didn’t even ask me what it costs. Now I know why Stanley put those flowery patterns on an otherwise manly product. Perhaps, the marketing department had them remove it on later models because it reminds their customers of….orchids! Gasp!

DonW has pulled the scales from a #45 and replaced them. I don’t think he’d recommend it as something to undertake, but I’m sure he’ll jump in to correct me if I”m wrong about that.

EDIT: But I see you want to, sorry, missed that part. There are nibs of metal, two on each side, recessed in the wood scales of the #45. And those nibs are solidly fixed to the core of the plane handle (usually where there’s a crack or two). Don may have taken pics, I don’t recall.

Al (Bertha) took all the nickel off his #45 and it looked pretty good, actually. Having something re-nickeled is prohibitively expensive and a ‘not-do-it-yourself- proposition. That is input I’ve seen written here on LJs by some that have pursued it.

What to do if you want it prettied up? I’d suggest a product Bob Summmerfield uses to clean up saw totes (very effectively), one that I’ve started using for gunky stuff in the shop: Oven Cleaner.

Spray on, scrub, wipe off. Then treat with a rustproofer of your choice (I wipe down tools with WD40). It’ll pull out what luster is left of the nickel coat (notoriously thin on most stanley tools of yore).

-- Don't anthropomorphize your handplanes. They hate it when you do that. -- OldTools Archive --